It's not every day that one is able to watch a whole village dissolve, but on July 1 (Canada Day), 2021 the residents of Hythe, Alberta were able to witness their village dissolve before their eyes. This, however, did not seem to alarm the residents of Hythe, as 239 of 251 who voted in a plebiscite to have the village dissolved were in favour of its dissolution. As is so often the case with smaller communities, it was money, or the lack of it, which formed the root of their decision. See the news article further below.
Hythe is about 15 km north of Beaverlodge on Hwy. 43. Hythe is a small rural community with less than 900 residents. Its economy base is primarily agriculture, forestry and oil and gas.
Hythe is known as the "Volunteer Capital of Alberta". The residents of Hythe are dedicated citizens and are living testimony to volunteering with the fire department, library, senior center and other local charities, as well as fund raising and local events.
Though Hythe is a small community, it is well deserving of a visit. Especially their visitor center with numerous displays and relocated structures. We visited Hythe in 2010 and took pictures of their old grain elevator which today appears to have been demolished.
The Village of Hythe municipal office is in an older building with a flat roof. Also in the building is the local library. There is an interesting mural on the side with old scenes of Hythe. The Village is managed by the Mayor and a five member town council. All council members are volunteers serving the community.
Kelly Sunderman was an early settler in the region and was the first to dig a well in Hythe, the town soon coming to be known as
The Town of Flowing Wells. It is situated on top of a large underground water supply.
HISTORY OF HYTHE, ALBERTA
Hythe was first known as Happy Valley named after "Happy Fletcher" one of the early homesteaders. It was officially named Hythe by its early settlers after their home town in England. In 1913, the first post office was established.
From Discover Peace Country
Hythe now officially a hamlet
of the County of Grande Prairie
Shaun Penner | July 2, 2021
Hythe residents can now refer to themselves as County of Grande Prairie residents, as the village officially dissolved into a hamlet of the county on July 1.
This transition to becoming the Hamlet of Hythe follows a vote by village residents at the end of March as to whether they wanted to dissolve the village and become a part of the county.
Residents voted overwhelmingly in favour, 239-12, to dissolve the village due to rising operational costs and costly infrastructure repairs becoming too much for the village to manage on its own.
While change is never easy, Reeve Leanne Beaupre hopes Hythe residents see this transition as a positive.
“The objective is really to show them that things should not really change a whole lot, other than they maybe have an opportunity to a wider range of services that they hadn’t had in the past.”
With the dissolution now complete, the village office in Hythe was closed on June 30, with services and administration now being delivered at the county offices in Clairmont.
With that transition, the county will be extending job offers to four permanent and three seasonal staff members with the village, while four positions from the village have been eliminated.
Chief Administrative Officer of the County Joulia Whittleton says the four jobs were eliminated to avoid a duplication of services.
From Everything Grand Prairie